KY Senate agrees to pause judge’s impeachment inquiry amid conduct review

FRANKFORT — The Senate Impeachment Committee unanimously voted to suspend impeachment proceedings against a Lexington judge — pending the outcome of a judicial board review. 

The Senate approved the committee’s recommendation by a voice vote Wednesday evening, which was the final day of the 2026 legislative session. 

The move comes after the committee’s chair, London Republican Sen. Brandon Storm, filed Senate Resolution 297 Tuesday evening which would pause the impeachment proceedings against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman and refer the matter to the Judicial Conduct Commission. It also emphasized the Senate’s right to resume the impeachment inquiry in the future. 

Storm said the committee’s action “cannot be construed as an acquittal or as the Senate relinquishing any rights or duties under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.” 

Last month, the House forwarded articles of impeachment against Goodman to the Senate, accusing her of committing “misdemeanors in office,” but House lawmakers did not unanimously agree while debating the petition that Goodman’s conduct constituted grounds for removal by the legislature. Goodman appealed and the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment had violated the separation of powers among the state’s branches of government and ordered it halted. 

The Supreme Court’s majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert, said the Judicial Conduct Commission is the proper venue for complaints against judges that do not rise to the level of impeachable offenses. 

Storm said the opinion revealed publicly for the first time that the Judicial Conduct Commission was reviewing allegations against Goodman. 

“It is unfortunate that the existence of that was not known to the House when the inquiry early in the process was requested,” Storm added. 

He continued, saying that the committee’s action was “driven by two factors only,” the duties of the Senate outlined in the state Constitution and “fairness to the defendant.” 

“It is the sense of this committee that those two concerns can be best served by tabling further proceedings in this matter. This will allow the JCC to complete its role,” Storm said. “If necessary, this matter can proceed to another legislative session.” 

The commission, which was created by the Judicial Article adopted in 1976, has the power to discipline judges. The JCC’s decisions can be appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court. 

“The rules governing the JCC require confidentiality during the investigation process,” the commission’s website says. “If a complaint results in a hearing, the JCC provides the judge under review with the information compiled during the commission’s investigation, including the name of the person who filed the complaint, if relevant.

Storm’s resolution called on the Judicial Conduct Commission to hold public hearings regarding Goodman. 

When asked after the committee meeting if the Senate would take up the proceedings against Goodman in the future if the commission cleared her of wrongdoing, Storm said he would not “pre-judge anything.” 

“We’re going to ask the JCC to do their job, and then we’ll consider what they’ve done, and then we’ll take that up as a full Senate body,” Storm said. “As I pointed out earlier, the Senate has the inviolate right to impeach and preside over a trial if necessary.”

While explaining her vote in favor of the motion to make the impeachment inquiry “stayed indefinitely,” Senate Democratic Whip Cassie Chambers Armstrong, of Louisville, said that she wanted “to be clear that I would be a no on any action to move this petition forward.”

“The Supreme Court clearly ruled that further action would be unconstitutional, and my preference would be that this body clearly state its intent to comply with that order,” she said. “For that reason, I would prefer that we dismiss the complaint or otherwise express the will of this body is to not take action on these allegations.” 

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said in a statement that the committee had convened “for the sole, limited purpose of receiving the articles of impeachment from the House and determining the next step.” 

“Above all, the Senate remains committed to upholding the integrity of the Constitution of Kentucky and preserving the balance among our three independent, co-equal branches of government,” Stivers said.  

The impeachment petition against Goodman was filed by former Republican state Rep. Killian Timoney, who is seeking reelection to a state House seat he lost two years ago in a Republican primary. Some of the cases at the center of Timoney’s petition are still pending in courts. 

Timoney said in a Tuesday Facebook post that he had filed the petition on behalf of the family of Tammy Botkin, a woman who died in a 2020 hit-and-run in Lexington. Botkin’s widower, Doug Botkin, briefly gave testimony against Goodman in the House committee’s hearing. He said that he and other family members were shocked when Goodman dismissed charges in the case and an appeals court later reinstated the charges.

The impeachment inquiry against Goodman has pitted the legislative and judicial branches against each other. Almost 70 Kentucky attorneys signed a letter pushing back at the impeachment hearings against Goodman, the Lexington Herald-Leader has reported. 

However, some family members of victims that disagreed with Goodman’s sentences have spoken out in support of removing Goodman, including Doug Botkin.

This story has been updated with additional information.